Archive for Progress
August 17, 2008 at 11:10 pm
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress, tomatoes
Sorry not to add anything for a while but we’ve had a holiday - always a dangerous thing being away from the garden for a few days at this time of the year of course. What happened - well perfect growing weather of course - showers and sun. So the weeds have gone berserk along with everything else. This is just a short status report - more later….
Status now - the broad beans are over and need pulling up, and the lettuce is coming to an end (and I still haven’t planted more lettuce seed). That’s the things that don’t need a lot of work - on the production side - the runner beans are still in full production (I picked and froze a couple of pounds just before going away) also the climbing french beans (lots frozen also). The mangetout peas are also still producing (again some in the freezer) and the turnips are ready, though we haven’t eaten any yet. The sweetcorn aren’t too far from being ready, the ’silks’ are going brown now. More courgettes (some still in the fridge from before the hols, though only a few on the plants now). The blackcurrants have almost all been picked (they are in the freezer).
However, the next big production crisis looms - the tomatoes. Thye have just started ripening seriously, we’ve eaten about a dozen since getting back. There are dozens threatening to ripen now, so it won’t take much to overwhelm our salad eating so the recipe books will be studied in the next few days I think for tomato rich recipes.
On top of that the brambles need picking…..
On a positive note the rain and my drip watering system (powered from rainwater butts) meant that the peppers and tomatoes both inside and outside the greenhouse didn’t dry out so a good result there.
Needless to say the grass also needs cutting and the hedges - well what do I need to say.
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August 3, 2008 at 9:51 pm
· Filed under Beans, Progress, tomatoes
Yes - we’ve given up the struggle to keep up with the beans and peas - so a session slicing, blanching and putting in bags yesterday for runner and french beans plus manegetout peas. I suspect more may follow as production still exceeds consumption!
Courgettes are another problem - we did get rid of some of the backlog this evening in a courgette omelette but more are ready…..
The next glut is going to be tomatoes - there are lots and lots - all green yet but I have that feeling they are all going to ripen at once - so we’ll have to dust off the tomato recipes I think. Still we do like pasta dishes and they can consume quite a lot of toms.
The guinea pigs are consuming some of the salad leaves but we aren’t really keeping up with the growth on that front either. AND - I must confess i haven’t planted any more lettuce yet - but I will - honest just need that spare time….
The sweetcorn is looking rather fine now and the cobs look as if they are fattening up nicely on at least some of the plants.
Sweetcorn
On the fruit front, my son and I had to tackle the blackcurrants today - one and a half pounds (800gms) off three bushes (two more to go). It prompted my wife to use up some of the frozen ones from some year in the past today! Quite what we will do with this years harvest isn’t yet decided - we have made ice cream, coulis and pies in the past so we’ll see - maybe just the freezer for now. Not only blackcurrants are ready but the brambles (blackberries to you folk not from the North) are just about ready for harvesting - and we have lots in the hedges. Now they go into bramble and apple pies of course (well some of them - we still have lots in the freezer).
On the wildlife front - cabbage whit butterflies have been laying eggs like mad on the nastertiums so it won’t be long before they are covered in caterpillars - good job I’m not growing any brassicas this year! Butterflies of any other variey have been noticeably scarce this year -though I did see a peacock on the buddleia yesterday. Rather curiously I’ve seen the hedgehog wandering off down the garden early in the evening a couple of days last week - very unusual in daylight - a mother looking for food for youngsters? A squirrel made an appearance as well - but we are ready…..
I have at least tackled some of the hedges during the last few days, and I cut the lawn last week….
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July 22, 2008 at 11:45 pm
· Filed under Beans, Progress, tomatoes
Yes harvesting is in full swing now. We are eating runner, french and broad beans plus courgettes and for the last couple of days - mangetout peas. The climbing french beans are now producing, just as the bush plants are beginning to come to an end.
Our salad bowl is full with lettuce (of several varieties), nastertium and recently some of the salad leaves planted in pots in the greenhouse. See picture below for a typical harvest:
My wife has just about managed to keep up with the courgette crop, we’ve had a couple of lasagnas filled with fried courgette during the last week - and very nice they have been.
It won’t be long before the tomato plants are producing ripe tomatoes - see pic below:
Immature Tomatoes
So I guess we’ll be looking at a few tomato recipes in a couple of weeks……
We’ve had dry weather for a few days now, and it looks like being dry for the rest of the week - so watering is now becoming quite a chore - particularly going round all the growbags.
The sweetcorn is just coming into flower - but there is quite a wide disparity in the size of plants, however all of them seem to be at about the same stage. See a typical plant below:
Flowering Sweetcorn
On top of all that - the blackcurrants are not far from being ripe:
Blackcurrants
Along with all the crops, the weeds are growing apace - I’ve even pulled a few up - but finding the time to have a big weeding session is proving difficult, so the crop plants will just have to compete for now.
On the wildlife front a curious development the other day - I spotted a hedgehog near the back of the house in the morning around 9 am wandering backwards an forwards along the hedge bottom - usually carrying some leaves and twigs on its way back towards the house. Now, seeing a hedgehog walk about in the day is fairly unusual, but this went on for at least an hour - I even managed to video some of its activity. My theory is that is is a female and was building a nest to give birth. I haven’t delved about to check, and it hasn’t been seen since so we’ll see….
On top of that - the blakbird has been building yet another nest - somewhere at the bottom of the garden now! It’s beginning to smack of OCB.
And I haven’t got round to cutting the hedges again yet - even though they need it- been busy with a shed…..
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July 15, 2008 at 12:02 am
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress, tomatoes
Well yes - though I’m not really complaining - but of course everything is now ready to harvest at once. So I am harvesting broad beans, french beans and courgettes. However, these are still not overwhelming the cooking ability of my wife - though we currently have four courgettes in the fridge waiting for the next meal. An example of typical harvest shown below: Tonight we had fresh courgette, broad beans (with their shells removed - my son is now an expert at the task) and french beans all lightly fried up with garlic and served with pasta and pesto - yum!
- Beans and Courgettes
So what else - the tomatoes are coming on it’s just the ususal bsiness of keeping the side shoots in check. I’ve been feding them with tomato fertiiliser now they have fruit set. Which reminds me - why are tomato seeds always present in compost and survive? Wherever I use my compost in the garden tomatoes always come up later (I’ve pulled up 3 or 4 so far this year) and yet I swear hardly any go into the compost heap….
The lettuce are all doing really well, though lots more than we (and the guinea pigs) can deal with, but very nice. and the other salad seedlings are coming on, though I suspect need a bit of fertiliser to hurry them up a bit.
Runner beans are within days of having beans worth picking - though I did see one today that really was ready. Another crop to eat then….
Sweetcorn is ok - though some variation between the plants in height - I suspect they may need a bit of encouragement as well.
The only real disappointment is the remaining sweet pepper outside the greenhouse in a growbag - it’s looking very sick and hardly growing. Meanwhile the ones inside the greenhouse are ready to flower.
The blackcurrants are startig to ripen now and looks like a good crop - provided we get them before the birds do.
Speaking of birds, our blackbirds are nesting again in bushes close to the back door (I suspect they have worked out they are safer there) - they are well used to me in the garden so don’t pay much attention to me now.
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June 22, 2008 at 10:44 am
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress, tomatoes
Yes, another variation on ’summer’ the weather - we have gale force winds today (a deep low pressure over the UK) but at least it isn’t raining - here (heavy rain in Scotland). I’ve already had a close look at the runner bean support which are looking a bit under threat. It’s a good job the runner beans aren’t more developed so at least at the moment the wind can blow through the support netting. The trees around the garden are waving like mad at the moment. We had rain yesterday, but light rain all day so good for the garden really. Heyup though - this the summer solstice and all that…..
Elsewhere, in the garden things are moving on. Tomatoes are flowering in the greenhouse, and close to flowering outside. The coourgettes are producing - we had three yesterday - one curious point though, the courgette in the greenhouse is only producing ‘male’ flowers - I’m sure there must be a reason for this….
Courgette Row in full flower
The french beans in the greenhouse have some baby beans already, and the ones outside can’t be far behind as they are flowering like mad.
I think there are enough broad beans ready now to harvest - they should be small and sweet as well, they do tend to be at their best when young. The blackfly menace hasn’t spread too much, I’ve had to cut off some badly affected stems but most plants are relatively unaffected. I haven’t had to resort to blasting them off with the hosepipe yet - pity that’s quite enjoyable…
Young Broad Bean Pods
The lettuce I planted in a pot in the greenhouse are finished now and I have resown the pot with more lettuce seed, so we are harvesting the lettuce outside now.
One disaster has struck though, I was watering section B the other night where the peas are planted (coming on nicely) and I planted other salad seed a few days ago - I thought ‘I will make sure I give the spinach-beet row (the only survivor of the first salad planting session and growing nicely) a good watering’ - and the more I looked the more they weren’t there! Except on close inspection the base of the leaves could be seen - they had been zapped by pigeons I suspect despite the protection. Very annoying - security has now been tightened over that section, especially as new salad crops are coming through just now. My annoyance was slightly reduced that day when I heard that Yorkshire had beaten Lancashire in the 20-20 cricket. Such victories are always worth savouring…..
I’ve also planted some other salad cops in pots to grow int he greenhouse - from salad ’seed collection’. Some Mizuna, which I don’t think I’ve grown before and some ‘land cress’, also new to me.
As for wildlife, a week ago or so I noticed the female blackbird was collecting nesting material again, but flying off to the other side of the garden from the ‘cat’ side - very wise I think. There always seems to be at least one house sparrow collecting for a nest as well. The great tits have suddenly started feeding on the peanuts again as well after ignoring them for a while. Toads have taken up residence in growing bags in the greenhouse and outside as usual - they get very upset every time I water. Oh - and I caught and evicted the squirrel so we are squirrel free for the moment.
Elsewhere in the garden, the apples and pears are coming on and it looks like a good blackcurrant crop this year. I’ve managed to tackle more of the hedges, though there is still more to do of course - bit like the Forth Bridge painting really. Preparing for a shed to go up (in the garden near the house) has meant removing the roots of a large forsythia bush and a mahonia - I’ve got most of it out but it has been a fair struggle but the ground is almost ready to be levelled off now.
Baby Apples (Lord Lambourn)
We have got some flowers growing in the garden as well, mostly perennials but some annuals this year as my son planted a pack of ‘flower seeds for kids’ a while ago and he has kept the patch watered well - and now the mixture has started flowering - I even managed to cut the hedge above the plants without damaging them - so they brighten up he garden.
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June 14, 2008 at 10:08 pm
· Filed under Progress
Well the weather has stayed relatively dry, so I managed to get a few jobs done in the garden yesterday. The main achievement was to finally get some more seeds planted - so I now have rows of rocket (2 rows from different packets), carrot (different variety from the previous planting), pak choi and mixed salad. They are all in section B - more or less where the original rows were planted. Hopefully this lot won’t get eaten by pigeons as the protection is there now.
I’ve also had to take off the tops of half-a -dozen broad bean plants as they were infested with blackfly, but so far only one plant seems to have blackfly on the main part of the plant. I rubbed off as many of the blackfly as I could on that one -I may have to resort to the water spray method if the blackfly spread much more. I’ll need to take the tops off most of them over the next few days I suspect.
Today, I harvested four small courgettes for use in a stir-fry so the courgette glut has started… Broad beans are only a few days away from being harvested at the stage where the pod and beans can be cooked so production is beginning. I noticed that some of the tomato plants have flower buds now as well. Lets hope the weather stays reasonable for the next week or so to help things along.
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June 12, 2008 at 11:54 pm
· Filed under Beans, Progress
Yes, just because I said the other day that there didn’t seem to be much of a blackfly attack on the broad beans, now a few plants are heavily infested. It could be a lot worse though and the ones most affected can just have their tops taken out, but it isn’t nice nevertheless.
The dreaded blackfly on broad bean plant
Meanwhile the weather has returned to changeable, well it is the UK after all - temperatures are now 10deg C lower than the other day, with some rain showers. I have managed to get on with a few garden jobs though.
So I’ve added more string support to the broad beans, they are quite tall now and beans are now growing fast and producing pods (see below) so it won’t be long before we should be eating them.
Broad Bean Pods
The french beans are now starting to flower, both those inside the greenhouse and those outside (see below). I noticed to day that the runner beans are in bud and will be flowering withing a couple of days.
French Beans in flower
I’ve planted all the peas from the greenhouse now, the remaining ones left to fill in gaps in the row sown direct into the ground. Also, the growbags are now full with tomatoes or peppers (one pepper only lasted one night - the slugs got it!, there was a replacement available though). So I’ve still gor a couple of tomato seedlings and peppers left. I’m loth to throw them away but it looks as if I’ll have to, still makes me sad though after all I’ve seen them grow from just a seed….. (sob).
Peas (from greenhouse planted seed)
To move on - we’ve already had some lettuce from the pot full grown in the greenhouse, and the plants outside are just about ready to surrender a few leaves. The radishes in the grenhouse are poor mainly because they weren’t thinned out - I need to plant some more plus some rocket as well since none of the previous sowing appeared.
The courgette plants are now flowering madly, well two of them anyway, and courgettes big enough for eating can’t be far enough - followed by a glut no doubt….
Away from the veg, I finally got round to planting up our hanging baskets, two of them outside the kitchen. A bit late in the day, so the choice at the garden centre was pretty poor but they both have a red and white theme and when they develop a bit more should look ok.
I’ve managed to fit in a bit more hedge cutting - and I have the scratches on my arms to prove it, but there is still plenty more to go at.
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May 25, 2008 at 4:01 pm
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress, tomatoes
Yes, as is traditional in the UK - a bank holiday weekend (tomorrow, Monday is a public holiday) and we have rain - and wind. Put paid to our tentative plans to go camping anyway, so just a family day out at Rutland Water yesterday cycling (see http://www.rutnet.co.uk/pp/gold/viewgold.asp?id=3491) while it was still dry (but windy, which didn’t make the cycling very easy).
However, I did manage to do a little bit in the garden this morning before the rain really set in, and one or two jobs the other day. A couple of sweet peppers are now in a growbag in the greenhouse and another is ready for a couple more. Outside I have planted out the rest of the lettuce growing in a tray, scattered between all three sections. I had to hastily tie up the third (triple) row of broad beans to save them from wind damage - and I added a higher level of string to the other rows. Also, I managed to sow a double row of mangetout peas (yes I know it is a bit late but better late than…) - as a backup I’ll try and plant some in pots in the greenhouse as soon as I get chance as past history indicates that the germination rate outside will be low - but hopefully I’ll be suprised this year.
One of the climbing french beans is looking very sick but I can’t see why - something at root level I suspect, otherwise the other and the runners look fine. The sweetcorn and courgettes are aslo growing well. The wind has got to one of the tomatoes outside the greenhouse - it may survive but there are more seedling in the greenhouse than I can use so I will be able to replace it if necessary.
The salad crops sown in section B are still very disappointing, with only a few seedlings through, hopefully I should be able to sow some more in the next couple of days. The lettuce and radish in the greenhouse are coming along fine though, and should be harvestable soon.
Still - on the bright side I am prevented from mowing the lawn or cutting more hedge….
Pictures will be added later (it’s a bit dull and wet right now!)
Update - See post above for progress photos
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May 21, 2008 at 11:24 pm
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress, tomatoes
Just a small update - the weather has continued with colder nights and cloudy days plus intermittent sunshine. Quite chilly in the mornings. Other work around the house has kept me from doing a lot in the garden as well.
The crops planted seem to be growing ok - one of the runner beans is over a metre up the support already. The only worrying things are the seeds I planted - the ‘mixed salad’ is showing a poor germination rate, and also the carrotts. I think I need to plant some more elsewhere now. Also the olive tomatoes planted in growbags outside have looked distinctly unwell but seem to be picking up now.
Meanwhile I have put a couple more tomatoes into a growbag in the greenhouse (’gardeners delight’) so that makes five now. The sweet peppers are just about ready to go into growwbags now - one is ready in the greenhouse to take them.
The main work has been on the front garden today - cutting the hedges and planting ‘busy lizzies’ and geraniums in amongst the bulbs that are gradually dying away. More hedges to do at the back though and the lawn is almost ready for a cut again…..
A ‘family’ of starlings - the parents and fledglings have been eating a large ‘fat ball’ laced with insects and demolished it completely during the last week and have also been spending a lot of time on the bird table.
Starling enjoying ‘fat ball’
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May 15, 2008 at 11:18 pm
· Filed under Greenhouse, Progress
The weather is no longer so summer-like. Temperatures have dropped to below 20, and south of here it has been raining but not in this area yet. I’ve been busy on other house maintenance jobs the last couple of days so not much progress in the garden. I did manage to plant a couple of tomato plants (gardeners delight) in a growbag outside the greenhouse this evening and also prepare another growbag inside the greenhouse ready for a couple more.
Everything in the garden seems to be growing fine now and with the change in weather today I didn’t need to water everything this evening. Of course this also means the hedges are growing as is the lawn.
On the wildlife front, I spotted a grey squirrel again yesterday - so that will have to be evicted - we haven’t seen one for about three months since the last one was relocated, which is good, but this isn’t a good time to have one back as they are quite capable of raiding bird nests and of course now is a peak time for nesting. A baby house sparrow managed to get itself trapped in our outside ‘utility room’ all last night and gave my wife a real shock as she was loading the washing machine this morning! It flew off seemingly ok. Toads have appeared in the greenhouse again - they seem to know when the growbags are available and like to sit in the holes where the plants go - sometimes one in each hole - and get quite upset when they get ‘watered’.
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May 12, 2008 at 11:50 pm
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress
Yes, we still have ’summer’ here so no excuse for not getting on with the garden. I managed to find enough time from a packed weekend (swimming, theatre, swimming…. just don’t ask) to plant the courgettes yesterday and get started with planting the sweetcorn. Today, I planted the rest of the sweetcorn - so there are five rows now forming a block (see photo below) - note the bird scaring CDs…
Courgettes & Sweetcorn
I also found time in the greenhouse to transfer the tomato and sweet pepper seedlings into their own pots to grow on. I made a start on preparing for the plants inside the greenhouse and one growbag is in place and watered ready for plants (tomatoes probably). One of the ‘gardeners delight’ tomatoes was now big enough to be plated into the growbag by the greenhouse so that has its full complement now. I’ve also prepared another grow bag for use outside the greenhouse.
Some of the seedlings from the recently planted rows of salad plants in section C are now appearing and hopefully immune from bird attack.
The beans are all doing ok - some of the runners are already climbing the mesh.
The hedge at the front is getting close to really needing a cut….
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May 10, 2008 at 12:05 am
· Filed under Beans, Progress ·Tagged Add new tag
Another day of action - well at least part of the day anyway. Not sunny today, overcast but still warm (24 degC max) - more comfortable to work in though.
So, the climbing French beans and the ‘ordinary’ French beans are now planted (see picture below) so I just need them to grow now - and of course now I would like some rain….
Runner beans and climbing french bans at the back, broad beans in the middle and french beans in fron.
Some lettuce seedling bottom left corner.
Five of the ’sweet olive’ tomatoes are now in growbags as well - three under the kitchen window and two in a growbag next to te greenhouse.
‘Sweet Olive’ tomatoes freshly planted
I also managed to plant a few of the lettuce seedlings just by the greenhouse near the beans. I’ve also tried putting a few into a large pot to bring them on in the greenhouse. Speaking of large pots - the plants I though were rocket in the greenhouse I now think are radishes….
I’ve put the sweetcorn plants outside the greenhouse ready for planting a they are getting to be quite big. On top of all that, I’ve put the larger courgettes outside the greenhouse and dug pits ready for them filled with mixed compost and soil (as per the ‘Vegetable Expert’ book) on section C.
On top of all thatI managed to treat more of the greenhouse (particularly the side where I might put another growbag).
It was interesting to watch the house sparrows today picking up the dried grass I’d left on the lawn yesterday when I’d been trying out my new shears (on the bits I couldn’t reach with the mower) - plus the blackbird having a bath..
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May 8, 2008 at 11:48 pm
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress
Another fine and sunny day (up to 26 degC) - with lots to do - and I got some of them done! I also had quite a productive day yesterday, which was fine and sunny as well. I got the canes and mesh support for the runner and climbing French beans in place and also the anti-bird CD scarers and mesh surround for section C which had been suffering from pigeon damage to the salad rows. The runner beans in the greenhouse were clearly big enough for plntig out so I put them outside the greenhosue ready. I also managed to mow the lawn - amazing!.
CD bird scarers and netting (to stop pigeons walking in….)
Today, first of all I planted the runner beans (Scarlet Emperor) I put outside the greenhouse yesterday - 6 altogether, and I have a couple of small ones left over just in case. I’ve put the French beans (standard and climbing) outside the greenhouse ready for planting as well.
I had been given a couple of strwaberry plants by my neighbour a while ago and I finally managed to plant them alongside the hedge to the side of section A - there were lots of ‘alpine’ style strawberries there before but they had lost out to weeds gradually, so I cleared it all out a week or so ago ready.
I also planted some more salad crops in section B - where I notice a potato plant had appeared. Somehow if potatoes are gronw in part of the garden you never manage to find all of them - had found half a dozen when I dug the plot over but clearly I had still managed to miss one. Anyway, there are now short rows of rocket, carotts, mixed salad leaves and spinach beet planted in that section. The original rows still have the odd seedling left so we’ll see if any of them grow into anything.
I put some ‘growmore’ fertiliser into he area that will take the French beans in the next couple of days as well. Also, I prepared two growbags ready for the tomatoes - one at the side of the greenhosue and one under the kichen window.
On top of all that I managed to do a bit more painting of preservative onto the greenhouse so about a quarter is now done.
One row of broad beans are now flowering (see proof below), but the weather now means all the rows need watering each evening and the prediction is that the dry spell will carry on into the weekend.
On the wildlife front - the summery weather has brought the butterflies out - I’ve seen orange tip, snmall blue, cabbage wite and brown ones that didn’t hang around long enough for me to identify them. There are loads of ‘bee-flies’ hovering around the garden as well, plus I disturbed a few frogs while I’ve been gardening. The blackbirds are still busy - they come down to the bird-table and under fairly frequently so they may be feeding young. I can hear the sound of what I suspect are blue or great tit chicks somewhwer around the bottom of the garden as well.
Meanwhile - rather ominously the hedge at the front is getting close to requiring a trim -still I bought a new pair of shears the other day, which I tried out on bits of the lawn today, so cutting the hedge might be sligthly easier….
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April 24, 2008 at 11:53 pm
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress
Well the better weather (briefly - it’s back to showers again now) has encouraged seeds to grow at last. In the greenhouse the broad beans are coming on, lettuce seedlings are up and the sweetcorn is coming on (photos below). Also, one or two French beans look to be coming up.
Even more exciting, the row of Rocket sown in sec B outside has produced some shoots, so things are really looking up. ALthough we are back to showers today it is still quite warm (up to about 18degC today) so more seedlings should appear hopefully.
And - some of the tomatoes and peppers on the kitchen windowledge are though as well…
Courgette and Lettuce Seedlings
Sweetcorn Seedlings
Also, I’ve picked up a couple of gooseberry bushed to plant in the ‘wild’ area - there is one sort of growing in one oof the hedges but it would be nice to have some more. I got a ‘late’ raspberry bush as well to plant next to the hedge near the greenhouse - all I need is the time to do it now….
Almost time to put in the supports for the broad beans as well
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April 21, 2008 at 9:14 pm
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress
Well the weather felt more like spring today - even some sunshine! Some real progress made as well - section C is now dug over, plus I added the contents of 3 growbags and a barrowload of compost and dug them in as well. So it will still need raking level and possibly some fertiliser added but see picture below for the current state:
The section was infested with creeping buttercup and what seemed to be clover, though I’ve never seen it before - it had long stringy root systems fairly thin - but I don’t remember seeing it ever before.
Meanwhile, in the greenhouse there are signs of action. The sweetcorn is definitely sprouting and the broad beans are appearing. A couple of french beans look as if they are coming up as well so there is hope yet. I managed to plant a few more seeds in the greenhouse as well - it was actually uncomfortably hot in there for a while. Some more tomatoes, chilli peppers more courgettes and as an experiment, some old curly kale seeds (into a tray). The tomatos and peppers are on the kitchen windowledge for germination (though the other peppers sown previously are not not showing any signs of appearing).
Outside, I took the tunnel cloche off the broad bean row planted direct (see below:
Also, I planted some parsley and oregano I bought during my visit to ‘B&Q’ in the small plot bekow the kitchen window. Also, the ‘wild’ part of the garden ahs been enhanced with some primroses I acquired at the weekend.
On top of all that I managed to mow the lawn! - which will please the house-sparrows and dunnocks who will now not have to hop quite so high.
On the wildlife front, our blackbirds nesting in the hedge on the western side (which I thought had chicks) seem to have been attacked - the nest is partly destroyed and clearly abandoned - probably a cat, although I did see a magpie on that hedge recntly. The blackbirds started another nest in the same hedge nearer the house but then seem to have switched to a bush on the East side of the garden.
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